Venetian blind



B. WALKER VENETIAN BLIND June 30, 1959 Original Filed Dec. 17; 1955 United States Pate'ntO VENETIAN BLIND Brooks Walker, San Francisco, Calif.

Original application December 17, 1953, Serial No.

398,704. Divided and this application June13, 1958, Serial No. 743,517

1 Claim. (Cl. 160-177) This invention relates to improvements in Venetian blinds and relates particularly to improvements in the upper portion of Venetian blinds, including the parts known as the head rail, the upper tilt rod, the upperi slats, and so on. This application is a division of application Ser. No. 398,704, filed December 17, 1953, which was a continuation-in-part of my application, Serial No. 158,099, filed April 26, 1950, now abandoned.

The invention solves several problems in the Venetian blind art and is generally concerned with the problem of making less expensive Venetian blinds which are also equally good as, or better in performance than, the prior art blinds.

One thing that has stood in the way of reducing the cost of Venetian blinds has been the large number of difierent stock items that have been required. Head rails and tilt bars have heretofore been bulky parts that had to be carried in stock and cut oil at the desired length for each blind, and numerous items of hardware concerned with the head rail and upper tilt rod also were required, because of the structure of prior art Venetian blinds. Also, such parts as gears, cord locking mechanisms and similar pieces were used in combination with the cords, and all these items had to be carried in stock. Also a great variety of fascia pieces in every color had to be kept on hand to match the blind slats. The present invention has solved the problem of materials cost, partly by reducing greatly the number of dilferent items that are required in each Venetian blind. In some instances the present invention substitutes cheaper, simpler items for more expensive and more complicated ones. For example, numerous punching operations were necessary in manufacturing prior art Venetian blind head rails, involving costly machinery and introducing the possibility of costly errors.

Another problem with Venetian blind installation which added to the expense was that of the labor cost. This resulted partly from the time it took to assemble a large number of different parts and partly from the difficulties of assembling these parts. The blind usually had to be assembled by feeding the tape sides through narrow slots in the head rails and securing the tape ends to the tilt mechanism, tried out, adjustments made, and finally set into place, and it was not easy to set it in place. The invention has solved this problem by producing blinds from fewer parts, by making these easier to assemble because the slats, tapes, and cords are assembled on the tilt rod and then the rod and assemblies inserted and secured in the open bottom head rail, making it easy to assemble in the factory and to service the blind in the home.

Another problem solved by this invention is that of reducing the shipping cost, which was kept high by the amount of space the unassembled parts of prior art blinds consumed. This problem has been solved by making the blinds from fewer parts and using parts which take up less room than did the parts previously used.

than with conventional prior art constructions.

The invention, then, includes as some of its objects: the provision of a more economicalheadrailconstruction; the provision of a Venetian blind that can be packed more compactly than prior art blinds, for economical shipment; the reduction of the number of stock parts which are used to produce a satisfactory Venetian blind; the elimination of some stock parts completely, by changes in structure; and the provision of a greatly simplified and less expensive Venetian blind generally.

The blind of this invention makes it possible to replace the upper tilt bar, which was formerly a heavy piece of material or bulky inserts on a flattened rod, with a simple metal rod. My invention also makes it possible to replace the type of head rail formerly required with a channel bar, which is used in inverted position and comprises a channel member with converging sides. This novel head rail can be made relatively narrow and shallow, whereas prior art Venetian blinds had to have bulky head rail mechanisms. When inverted channel members were used, they were not used as the head rail but as a cover to hide the unsightly portions of the head rail, while in my present invention the inverted channel member itself is the head rail and need house only the tilt rod, which is a simple straight rod of metal arranged for rotation in the head rail. From this rod is suspended the entire remainder of the Venetian blind. Another feature of this structure is that the tilt rod itself can be so closely nested within the inverted channel head rail that the tilt cords are thereby retained in their proper position and are prevented from getting on top of each other. This means that they will wind evenly and will always be in the right position for controlling the rotation of the tilt rod.

Fig. 1 is a side view partly cut away showing a portion of a Venetian blind involving the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view partly cut away of the same portion of the Venetian blind.

My novel tilt control rod 20 may simply be an iron rod, which may be cut to any desired length when making up the blind. On the rod 20 I mount a series of control discs or washers.

The head rail channel member 60 has its lower inner faces closer together than the upper inner surfaces. Here the channel 60 supports the tilt rod 20 by washers or ears 61, which may also support a lift cord pulley 62. The washers 61 are cut to fit the head rail 60, and may be attached to the tilt rod 20 by engaging an annular recess 61b in the rod 20, like the recess 20a. This will still allow rotation of the rod 20 relative to the supporting washers 61. The rod 20 and two supporting spaced 'washers 61, after being properly installed with the tilt cords 40, 41 and ladder tape loops 30, 31 on the rod 20, may be slid in endwise of the head rail 60. Once the head rail 60 is mounted, the window will prevent the rod 20 from drifting. A slight crimp in the heads of the end rail 60 or a pin 11 may also be used to prevent the tilt rod 20 and its associated parts from drifting sideways, if that becomes necessary. Tilt rod supporting washers or ears 61 may be cut from a blank with connecting portions 61a which will act as a spacer for sides 61, one at each edge of the ladder tapes 30 and 31. Drift preventing washers 22 may be crimped onto tilt rod 20 after washer assembly 61 and associated parts have been inserted on rod 20. Washers 22 have a split at 22a which is open sufficiently to slide over rod 22 before being crimped onto rod 22 or into a groove 22. Lift cord 50 passes around pulley 52 which is supported on pin 62a which in turn is (9 supported on ears 61b extending from washer 61 at the right side of the tapes, as viewed in'Fig. 1.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the-spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

A Venetian blind including in combination a narrow inverted rigid channel member with its .sides converging toward .each other at their open end but still kept apart;

vertical perforated washer members contacting the interior of the side walls of said channel member; a metal rod journaled rotatably in said Washers for rotation in said channel member; ladder tapes looped over said rod; slats supported by said ladder tapes, said slats being Wider than said channel member; and a tilt control cord for rotating said rod so as to tilt the slats of said blind.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,652,113 Schaefer Sept. 15, -1953 

